intonational tendencies among different refusal strategies
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(Narratology) Issue No.33 (July–August–September)2019
7
Intonational patterns of Refusals
among Egyptian Actors and Actresses:
Intonational Tendencies among
Different Refusal Strategies
Ahmed Abdelhafiz Mohamed Hassan
Intonational patterns of Refusals among Egyptian Actors and Actresses: Intonational
Tendencies among Different Refusal Strategies .Ahmed Abdelhafiz Mohamed
8
(Narratology) Issue No.33 (July–August–September)2019
9
:Abestract
English has been considered the universal language for
communication, even between cultures that do not speak
English as a native language. But in order to communicate
effectively with other speakers of the language, and to avoid
any potential misunderstanding, speakers of any language
should be aware of the intonational patterns and their pragmatic
implicatures. Intonation helps the speakers express their
emotions and attitudes, draw the attention of the hearers to
certain parts of the utterance, indicate the grammatical structure
of utterances, and it also can turn a statement into a question
without having to change the syntactic structure of the
utterance. Intonation is seen as the music of speech, and a
simple change in that music will reflect a certain meaning in the
mind of the hearers. Hence, it is believed that for speakers of
English, or any other language, to communicate effectively and
avoid any potential misunderstanding, they should be aware of
the language’s intonational patterns and their implicatures in
different contexts.
Key Words:
Intonation, intonational patterns, sentence structure,
communication, misunderstanding.
Intonational patterns of Refusals among Egyptian Actors and Actresses: Intonational
Tendencies among Different Refusal Strategies .Ahmed Abdelhafiz Mohamed
10
ن:يللرفض بين الممثلين والممثلات المصري التنغيميةالأنماط بين استراتيجيات الرفض المختلفة التنغيمية الأنماط
في تغير الدلالة في اللغة الإنجليزية اوأثره
حسن الباحث: أحمد عبد الحفيظ محمد ملخص:
تستتتت اللغة الإنغةيزيا فينغلوغة الحغة فيتتتتوغلوغة اةلتتتت،غ غة تتتت ا غح ىغتاتتاغة وغتغتستتتتتتتتتتتتتت اتتلميتتفغلوغحبتتفتيتتفغة امبتتن غ ي تت غة ي غة اتتف غ تتلغ
ييت غأ غيوا غة م تل غغ-ة مالأ غأيغ لإتنغأرو غ ت،غا فيتنغغة تل غاتف الإتنغةيزيلف غب غيستتتتتتتتتف لغة م ل غغ اىغ ا غاأزمفطغة غب غ يذهغة الإنغ دت يفغلوغة م ى
اىغإ وةزغم ف وهغ ماةل ه غ اىغجذ غةز بفهغة مس م غلأجفةءغم نغم غة كلال غغ تايتب غة وي غة الإايغ ة ايغ ايمان غ أياتفيغيمو هغت اي،غة يمانغة ايوينغإ ى
غ ذ اغ غ ىغتلإ وغأيغجفءغم غأجفةءغة يمانةستتتتتتتتتتتتت يفمبنغ ة وإغد غة فجهغإغ ويقغة غب
غأيغتلإ وغلوغهتذهغأ يمو غت ويفغة غب غ اىغأزتهغماستتتتتتتتتتتتتتب ىغة كلال غ غة ماستب ىغست وإغ اىغة م ىغة ذيغي ت،غإ ىغة مست م غ ذ اغليزهغيي غ اىغ
ة غب غ دت يتفغلوغة ماةل غة ما ا تنغغم تليوغة الإتنغأ غيوازاةغ اىغم ولتنغاتأزمتفط ي ياةغأ غي يمهغة مستتتتتتتتتتتت م ا غا تتتتتتتتتتتتو،غرف غ اةلتتتتتتتتتتتتااةغم غة روي غا وي نغ
غل ب نغ مثموة غب غة ما ا تنغلوغة الإتنغةيزيا فينغ ي تف غهذةغة ب تأغأ غي وبغاأزمتفطغة غ
غ تلإ وغة لت نغتب فغ مطغة غب غ غم غرلا غ نغ اب أغ
الكلمات المفتاحية :غة غب غ غة لت نغ غأزمفطغة غب غ غتوي غة يمان غة اةل،غ غة ي غة اف
(Narratology) Issue No.33 (July–August–September)2019
11
غ
1. Introduction:
It goes without saying that learning a new language is
difficult and might cause some problems for the learners.
Learners have to understand new grammar rules, new syntactic
structures, new cultural differences, and, sometimes, new
alphabetical systems. However, one problem that is often
overlooked is the phonological aspects of the new language.
These phonological aspects might be different from those of the
learner’s native language, which leads to some
misunderstanding.
In this Research we will analyze Egyptian actors and
actresses refusals to find the most frequently used intonational
patterns for each of the refusal strategies. Refusal strategies, as
well as intonational patterns, differ in the level of threat they
impose on the hearer’s face. Thus, a speaker should be careful
to choose intonational patterns that are suitable for the context.
Intonational patterns of Refusals among Egyptian Actors and Actresses: Intonational
Tendencies among Different Refusal Strategies .Ahmed Abdelhafiz Mohamed
12
2. Theoretical Framework:
It has been argued by Peter Roach (1992) that intonation
has four functions that can be used to change the meaning of an
utterance. The four functions of intonation are the grammatical
function, the accentual function, the attitudinal function and the
discourse function. Roach also argued that the use of one
intonational pattern in a certain situation can imply a meaning
that is different from other patterns. In this research we will use
Brazil and Coulthard’s (1980) discourse function that is more
suitable for the purpose of the present research.
David Brazil (1980) illustrated that there are five main
tones; falling, falling-rising, rising, rising-falling and level tone.
Out of these five tones the rising tone and the rising falling tone
are more dominant than the other three tones, and their use
should be to assert dominance over the addressee. More power
one speaker has over the other, the more freedom he has in his
choice. Brazil (1980) argues that the same thing applies to
social distance since the closer they are to each other, the more
freedom they both have in their choice. Brazil (1980) provides
the following Figure:
(Narratology) Issue No.33 (July–August–September)2019
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Figure 1: Brazil’s classification of tones
Communicative decision realising tone
is matter proclaimed? p
Is speaker also p+
asserting dominance r+
is matter referred to? r
(Brazil, 1980, p.56)
Brazil (1980) gives examples distinguishing the two
most significant tones in his model; the falling-rising, which he
called the referring tone and gave it the symbol r, and the
falling, proclaiming tone, which he gave the symbol p.
//r he’ll be TWENty//p in AUgust//
//p he’ll be TWENty//r in AUgust// (Brazil, 1980, p. 16)
These are the same utterances, with a change in tone selection
for each tone unit. In the first example we can assume that the
hearer already knows that the person they are talking about will
be twenty, but he doesn’t know in which month. On the
contrary, in the second example, the hearer is told how old that
Intonational patterns of Refusals among Egyptian Actors and Actresses: Intonational
Tendencies among Different Refusal Strategies .Ahmed Abdelhafiz Mohamed
14
person will be on his next birthday, which the hearer already
knows will be in August.
Similarly, Brown and Levinson (1980) indicated that the
speech act of refusal is one of the acts that impose a high threat
to the addressee. Brown and Levinson (1987) argued that the
threat that a certain speech act has over the face of the addressee
can confine the speaker to how he/she would utter that speech
act. Brown and Levinson also introduced their classification of
politeness strategies according to the threat of the speech act at
hand. Their classification consists of five main classes ranging
from doing the face threatening act as ‘baldly’ as possible to
avoiding the face threatening act completely.
Figure2: Brown and Levinson’s classification of
politeness strategies
deg
ree
of
thre
at t
o s
lef-
imag
e
Do FTA
on record
(1)baldly, no redressive
actionwith redressive
action
(2)positive
politeness(3)negative
politeness(4)
off-record
(5)Don't do
FTA (Brown and Levinson, 1987, p.60)
(Narratology) Issue No.33 (July–August–September)2019
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Their classification consists of five main classes ranging from
doing the face threatening act as ‘baldly’ as possible to avoiding
the face threatening act completely. They also described the
other classes, as they argued that positive politeness is when
“the potential face threat of an act is minimized by the
assurance that in general S [speaker] wants at least some of H’s
[hearer’s] wants” (Brown and Levinson, 1987, p. 70). Negative
politeness, on the other hand, assures that the speaker
understands the independency of the hearers and that he/she is
not willing to impose on their freedom of choice.
Refusals are one of the less commonly studied speech
acts, but they are sometimes a big issue for some of the learners
as they might sound impolite or rude because of the choice of
the wrong strategy or tone. In this research we will only focus
on the tone choice, leaving aside the use of strategy. We will
use Beebe et al.’s classification of the refusal strategies for the
organization of the data. Here are the refusal strategies as
presented by Beebe (1990):
I. Direct strategies:
1. Perfomative verbs – e.g. ‘I decline’
2. Flat ‘No’ – e.g. ‘No.’
Intonational patterns of Refusals among Egyptian Actors and Actresses: Intonational
Tendencies among Different Refusal Strategies .Ahmed Abdelhafiz Mohamed
16
3. Negative ability - e.g. ‘I can’t.’ ‘I don’t think I can
make it.’
II. Indirect strategies:
1. Attempt to dissuade interlocutor:
a. Threat or statement of negative consequences to
the requester – e.g. ‘I won't be any fun
tonight’ to refuse an invitation.
b. Guilt trip – e.g. waitress to customers who want
to sit a while: ‘I can't make a living off people
who just order coffee.’
c. Criticize the request/requester (statement of
negative feeling or opinion; insult/attack) – e.g.
‘Who do you think you are?/That's a terrible
idea!’
d. Request for help, empathy, and assistance by
dropping or holding the request
e. Let interlocutor off the hook – e.g. ‘Don't worry
about it./That's okay./You don't have to.’
2. Regret – e.g. ‘I’m very sorry.’
3. Wish - e.g. ‘I wish I can do it…’
4. Excuse/Explanation – e.g. ‘I want to leave now.’
(Narratology) Issue No.33 (July–August–September)2019
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5. Alternatives – e.g. ‘I will find somebody to help you
carrying your things.’
6. Future acceptance – e.g. ‘I can help you tomorrow
after final exam.’
7. Principle – e.g. ‘I don’t like lazy students who like easy
notes taking.’
8. Philosophy – e.g. ‘Excuse is worse than sin.’
9. Self-defense – e.g. ‘You should have attended class.’1
10. Acceptance that functions as a refusal
Unspecific or indefinite reply
Lack of enthusiasm
11. Avoidance
a. Nonverbal
i. Silence
ii. Hesitation
iii. Doing nothing
iv. Physical departure
b. Verbal
i. Topic switch
ii. Joke
1Raja Rozina, Raja Suleiman. (2011). Refusal Strategies In English By Malay University Students. Journal of Language Studies, 11(3), 74-75.
Intonational patterns of Refusals among Egyptian Actors and Actresses: Intonational
Tendencies among Different Refusal Strategies .Ahmed Abdelhafiz Mohamed
18
iii. Repetition of part of request – e.g.
‘Monday?’
iv. Postponement – e.g. ‘I'll think about it.’
Hedge – e.g. ‘Gee, I don't know. / I'm not sure.
Adjuncts to Refusals
1. Positive opinion or agreement – e.g. ‘That's a good
idea’
2. Empathy – e.g. ‘I realize you are in a difficult
situation.’
3. Pause fillers – e.g. uhh/well/oh/uhm’
4. Gratitude/appreciation
3. Data collection:
The subjects of the research are twelve Egyptian actors
and actresses taking part in Hollywood movies. The data are
collected from twelve Hollywood movies in which those actors
are present. Here, we will list the movies and the actors taking
part in them:
1- Omar Sharif: Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago
and Che!
(Narratology) Issue No.33 (July–August–September)2019
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2- Amr Waked: Lucy and Salmon fishing in the
Yemen.
3- KhaledNabawy: The Citizen.
4- SayedBadreya: ‘T’ for Terrorist and American
East.
5- Sammy Sheik: Darfur, American East.
6- Mido Hamada: The Situation.
7- Chewikar: Cairo.
8- Ahmed Mazhar: Cairo.
9- FatinHamama: Cairo.
10- Kamal Alshinawy: Cairo.
11- Abdel KhalekSaleh: Cairo.
12- Salah Nazmi: Cairo.
4. Data analysis and findings:
The data collected were analyzed using the PRAAT
software to find the main intonational patterns that were present
in every utterance. The next table shows the tones associated
with all the different strategies of direct refusals. The results are
represented in numbers followed by the percentage compared
to utterances with the same refusal strategy. At the end of the
table there is the total number of tone units that had specific
Intonational patterns of Refusals among Egyptian Actors and Actresses: Intonational
Tendencies among Different Refusal Strategies .Ahmed Abdelhafiz Mohamed
20
tones as the main tone movement, to find the frequency of the
occurrence of a specific tone movement, among other
movements, with direct refusal.
Table 1: tone movements of direct refusals.
Semantic formula
R
R+
P
P+
O
Direct
refusal
Performative verbs. 2
100%
Flat refusal 2
12.5%
2
12.5%
9
56%
3
19%
Negative ability/
willingness
1
25%
2
50%
1
25%
Total (22)
3
13.6%
2
9%
13
59%
3
13.6%
1
4.5%
As we can see in the previous table, there is a tendency
towards the use of the less dominant falling and falling-rising
tones with direct refusals. We had only two utterances in the
first strategy, but both of them were produced in a falling tone
to lessen the effect of the direct refusal. Flat refusals showed a
tendency towards the use of the falling tone with 56%, followed
by the falling-rising tone with 12.5%. Negative ability/
willingness also showed that the speakers preferred the less
dominant /P/ and /R/ as well as the distant, uninvolved level
tone. The more dominant rising and rising-falling tones were
seen with flat refusals, which might indicate that the speakers
(Narratology) Issue No.33 (July–August–September)2019
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are being rude or impolite.
The next table, on the other hand shows indirect refusal
strategies and their intonational tendencies:
Table 2: tone movements of indirect refusals.
We can see in the previous table how different the
statistics are between direct and indirect refusal strategies.
Direct refusal strategies tend to have more falling tones.
However, indirect refusal seems to have more rising tones. The
use of the more dominant rising and rising-falling tones is
obvious in the attempt to dissuade. This might imply that the
speaker is practicing his authority over the addressee. Regret
shows even results as two utterances were in rising tone, two
Semantic formula
R
R+
P
P+
O
Indirect
refusal
Attempt to dissuade 8
38.1%
3
14.3%
10
47.6%
regret 2
40%
2
40%
1
20%
Explanation/
excuse
5
27.8%
8
44.5%
1
5.5%
4
22.2%
Alternative 1
9.1%
4
36.3%
5
45.5%
1
9.1%
Principle 1
33.3%
1
33.3%
1
33.3%
Self-defence 2
50%
1
25%
1
25%
Avoidance 2
20%
7
70%
1
10%
Total (76)
4
5.3%
28
36.8%
24
31.6%
15
19.7%
5
6.6%
Intonational patterns of Refusals among Egyptian Actors and Actresses: Intonational
Tendencies among Different Refusal Strategies .Ahmed Abdelhafiz Mohamed
22
utterances in falling tone and just one in level tone. The strategy
of explanation showed a tendency towards the use of the falling
tone with 44.5% of the utterances in this strategy using the
falling tone compared to 27.8% in rising tone and 5.5% in
rising-falling tone. The refusal strategy of avoidance, however,
showed 70% of its utterances using the rising tone, which might
indicate that the subjects preferred to sound dominant using this
strategy. Overall, indirect refusals had 36.8% of its utterances
using the rising tone, while 31.6% used the falling tone. The
rising falling and the falling rising were less commonly seen
with 19.7% and 5.3%, respectively.
Beebe et al. (1990) introduced another type of refusal that was
considered to be an adjunct to refusal. We will also introduce
the tone units accompanying this refusal strategy in the data
collected:
Table 3: tone movements of adjuncts to refusal.
Semantic formula
R
R+
P
P+
O
Adjuncts to refusal
Appreciation 2
100%
Gratitude 2
100%
(Narratology) Issue No.33 (July–August–September)2019
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The occurrence of this strategy was not frequent in the data
collected; however, all four examples of it show a falling tone
as the main tone.
Intonational patterns of Refusals among Egyptian Actors and Actresses: Intonational
Tendencies among Different Refusal Strategies .Ahmed Abdelhafiz Mohamed
24
References:
- Beebe, L.M., Takahashi, T., and Uliss-Weltz, R. (1990).
Pragmatic transfer in ESL refusals. New York: Newbury
House Publishers.
- Brazil, D., Coulthard, M., and Johns, C.
(1980). Discourse Intonation and Language Teaching.
Harlow: Longman.
- Brown, Penelope and Levinson S. C. (1987). Politeness:
Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
- Roach, P. (1992). Introducing Phonetics. London: Penguin.
- Savić, M. (2014). Politeness through the Prism of Requests,
Apologies and Refusals. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars
Publishing
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